Class disruption as St Alban’s Primary teachers call in sick

A dozen teachers at St Alban’s Primary School in St James reported ill on Thursday, disrupting classes and prompting education officials to deploy student teachers as emergency cover.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer Bradshaw told reporters that half of the 24 teachers at the school had called in sick before the start of classes. In response, 15 student teachers from Erdiston Teachers’ Training College were quickly dispatched to the school, with some retired teachers also volunteering their time.

An emergency meeting was held at the school with the principal and staff.

“Out of the meeting, it was made clear that the Infants Department was without a teacher, and that was very concerning for the members of staff. They indicated that they wished for this matter to be rectified,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw explained.

The chief education officer revealed that while two teachers had been assigned to the department at the beginning of the term, one had since reverted to their substantive post outside the teaching service. The process of filling this vacancy was underway but incomplete, with interviews yet to be concluded.

When questioned about the prevalence of similar shortages across the education system, Dr Archer-Bradshaw maintained that while such issues occurred in some other schools, they were “not very widespread”.

“From time to time you may have teachers not being able to fulfil their duties due to illness, and when that happens you would have to advertise the post, and go through the process of interviewing and having the sign-off and making recommendations. That process takes a bit of time, and that would result in sometimes classes not being taught for a short period of time,” she explained.

Although unable to confirm whether classes would return to normal on Friday, Dr Archer-Bradshaw assured that backup plans were in place.

“We have our contingency plans if the sickout persists, and we spoke to the principal about the steps that should be taken moving forward,” she said.

(SB)